Battle mini game - free on Console Edition soon

Posted on May 26, 2016
by Marsh Davies

Ready your enchanted rods! Strap on your diamond helms! We’ve been working with our chums at 4J Studios to make something pretty special - and free! - for Console Edition players to enjoy. We’re calling it Battle. It’s a last-minecrafter-standing deathmatch and the first of a number of mini games we’ll be releasing, designed to help players compete under cool and crazy rulesets with minimum fuss.

Of course, our amazingly creative console community already improvises new (and often very weird) ways to play with friends - and long may this continue! Our mini games will give you a helping hand, dropping you straight into the fun without the need to mess around with manual countdowns, laboriously prep loot chests or keep score.

Battle pits players against one another in a fight for survival, as they race to snatch weapons and resources from chests, dance over each arena’s unique perils and stave off hunger pangs. We’ve made the mini game specifically with console players and couch-based competition in mind: it supports up to four players in splitscreen and eight players online, either by invitation or using the in-game matchmaking system. We wanted it to be super-accessible and fast-paced, so we’ve tried to keep the focus on rapid tactical thinking and combat: there’s no need to craft anything here, and you can loot inventories and equip armour with the tap of a button.

If you fall to your foe’s blade - don’t despair! You can always respawn as a bat and flutter round your nemesis, squeaking vengefully. Take care to check out the lobby in between games, too. There may be a few surprises to find!

Battle will be available in June as a free update to Minecraft: Console Edition players and comes with three incredible, deadly arenas. Down the line we’ll be releasing more map packs for $2.99 a pop.

Watch out for our trailer in the near future! In the meantime, how about some more screenshots?